Fidel Edwards: Hampshire fast bowler breaks leg 'playing football in warm-up'

Injuries occur with great regularity during the pre-match warm ups in football too - in fact far more so than in cricket. This season alone I recall Anthony Martial, Joel Obi, David de Gea, Artur Boruc, Joshua King, Ramires, Theo Walcott, Sami Khedira, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Charlie Austin and Jay Rodriguez all getting themselves injured during the pre-match warm ups forcing them out of action for varying lengths of time. And those are just off the top of my head.

Injuries happen in all manner of circumstances. I remember when Chris Old cracked a rib from sneezing too hard, Michael Jordan cut his finger with a cigar cutter, Brandon Inge suffered an oblique strain fluffing his daughter's pillow, Kirk Broadfoot burned his face when the egg he was cooking exploded on him, George Brett broke his toe trying to change the tv channel, Dave Beasant severed a toe tendon dropping a salad bottle on his foot, Joel Zumaya suffered right wrist inflammation playing too much "Guitar Hero" and Bill Gramatica tore his ACL celebrating a game-winning kick. Unless you want to wrap players up in cotton wool, these things will inevitably happen.

Injuries are all part and parcel of playing sport, I get that, and I'm not saying wrap the players up in cotton wool, but surely there's a way to minimise the risks involved especially when warming up?

The coaches at the various teams obviously have a better understanding of what the players need to do before a game or during training, but it must be frustrating for them also to see a player being carried off on a stretcher due to a bad tackle or because they're being a little too competitive in a warm up.

No one walked under a ladder or crossed a black cat ?  :-\


I rather like that Guitar Hero, used to be one of my favorite pastimes !

Fidel wasn't injured due to a bad tackle or being over competitive though - he broke his leg when his foot got stuck in the turf and all his weight went over on it. There was no-one near him at the time, it was a freakish fall and injury. He was simply jogging by himself. Unfortunately, non-contact injuries are the perfect storm of positioning, momentum and direction change. It was just one of those things.

Cricket teams - much like all other sports teams - invest serious money in strength and conditioning coaches. In addition, the ECB has created the Sports Science and Medicine (SS&M) department to help steer the development of First Class County teams. Everything is micromanaged, even down to their diets. Players are more athletic and fitter today than ever.

You can check out their responsibilities at the following link if you would like to learn more:
www.ecb.co.uk/ecb/national-cricket-perfo...cience-medicine-team

So basically he fell over while he was running. If he causes that much damage to himself just by falling over a bit of turf, I'd dread to think what would have happened if it was caused by a tackle. They'd have been burying him...